[Sosfbay-discuss] Proposal For Tuesday Meeting

[Jim Stauffer]

I am asking the GPSCC to sponsor a bylaw amendment proposal. Article 10 of
the GPCA bylaws allow a local group to submit such proposals. I've
collaborated with Jonathan Lundell and Pat Gray from San Mateo on this. They
will be pursuing SM sponsorship also, so this will be a region-sponsored
proposal.

The proposal should be self-explanatory. But there is a huge back-story
behind why this proposal is necessary. I'll fill in those details at the
meeting if people really want to hear it.

Jim
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SUBJECT:

Modify byalws section 7-1.4 to clarify that regions may replace their
Coordinating Committee (CC) representative during the course of a term of
office.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:

In the course of recent debates over CC rep elections a disagreement has
arisen in regards to the intent of the clause in section 7-1.4 that says,
"CC representatives shall serve for a nominal term of two years or until
their successors are elected."

Some have interpreted this to mean that any person filling the office of CC
rep cannot be removed from that office by his/her electing constituency
during the course of the term. The one exception allowed is, "Section 6-3.
Removal for Cause," which stipulates a narrow criteria under which a CC rep
may be required to resign.

Others among us believe that 7-1.4 has no such discernable intent; that
there is no practical reason why a prohibition on rep replacement should
exist; and that regions should have authority to choose their member(s) on
the CC.


PROPOSAL:

The proposed modification to Section 7-1.4 is based on these assumptions:

+ As defined in our bylaws, the GPCA is comprised of two entities: the state
organization and the county organizations. CC reps and General Assembly
delegates are the human organizational interfaces between the two entities.
Therefore, issues involving reps and delegates are not the exclusive domain
of either entity, but must be resolved considering the needs of both the
state and county organizations.

+ Since the office of CC rep is an interface between a region's counties and
the state party, our principle of decentralization would tend to give the
counties, rather than the state, preference over issues of filling the CC
rep office. 

+ The natural, unplanned personnel turn-over rate on the CC is substantial,
so an occasional intended replacement of a rep would not significantly
increase that turn-over rate.

+ There are no corroborating clauses in the bylaws that support an
interpretation of 7-1.4 that says CC reps can not be replaced by their
electing constituencies. The bylaws are, in fact, silent on the issue.
Therefore, a clear statement on a region's right to replace their rep at
their discretion needs to be added to the bylaws.


Section 7-1.4 shall be modified by adding a second paragraph as follows:

Notwithstanding section 6-3, a region may also replace its representative(s)
during the course of the term of office by conducting an election in
accordance with its approved procedure. The new representative(s) shall
serve the remainder of the existing term of office.